Kings Rumors: Vlade Divac, Luke Walton Aren't 'Going Anywhere Anytime Soon'

It appears general manager Vlade Divac and head coach Luke Walton will remain with the Sacramento Kings for the foreseeable future despite the team missing the NBA playoffs for the 14th straight season.

The Athletic's Sam Amick reported the general sense he has gotten is that "there's no indication Divac (or Walton, for that matter) is going anywhere anytime soon."

The Kings made a 12-win improvement in 2018-19, finishing 39-43. Nine games separated Sacramento from the Los Angeles Clippers for the final postseason berth.

That wasn't good enough for head coach Dave Joerger to keep his job, as the team fired him and quickly hired Walton. In Walton's first season, the Kings' winning percentage has fallen from .476 to .423.

More concerning, Sacramento is 19th in offensive rating (109.2) and 20th in pace (99.51), per NBA.com. What looked like a young, exciting offense a season ago has gone backward.

Since Rick Adelman's departure after the 2005-06 season, no coach has stayed in Sacramento for more than three full seasons. That high rate of turnover gives the franchise one reason to stick with Walton for at least another year.

A stronger case could be made that Divac's job should be a little less secure.

His hiring was puzzling when it happened in March 2015 given his lack of NBA front-office experience, and he hasn't done much to silence his skeptics since then. Most notably, the Kings passed on Luka Doncic in the 2018 NBA draft to select Marvin Bagley III. That's the kind of mistake that could hang over the team for years to come. Just ask the Portland Trail Blazers, who opted for Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan in 1984.

Amick noted that Divac signed a four-year extension with the Kings in April 2019. Firing him now would be a costly move, especially at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted how much NBA teams can generate in revenue.

Bleacher Report's Ric Bucher spoke to another general manager in July who said that owner Vivek Ranadive might wind up keeping Divac in large part due to his contract situation.